hickson



(No Mom.)

T.' W. HIGKSON.

HANDLE.

No. 541,855. Patented" July 2, 1895.

NITED STATES ATEN'T OFFICE.

' HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 541,855, dated July 2,1895.

' Application filed January 23, 1895. Serial No. 536,397- (No model.)

To all whom it may conccrfi:

Be it known that I, THEODORE WILLIAM HICKSON, a subject of the Queen of Great in a Combination Handle and Support for Cans and Cases, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a combination of parts adapted to be used as a strengthening and protective frame around cans and cases, without materially projecting therefrom.

My appliance may readily be turned into a combined handle and support by drawing up one of its parts, the sides of which have slots or the like for the purpose of allowing such action. My appliance may also when not in use on a tin or case be collapsed so as to occupy a very small space.

With many tins, handles are desirable but have not been provided because the riveting of a handle to the tin would weaken the latter and render it ill-adapted for containing any heavy weight, or because no inexpensive appliance had been invented which could be easily put on and taken oft", be compactly folded into a small space, which would not project materially from the tin so as to waste space, and could be converted into a handlesupport at will.

In the case of kerosene and other tins, the tins themselves when emptied and with the tops removed, are, owing to their convenient shape and ample capacity, of material value as buckets or containing vessels, but the drawback precluding their general use is the absence of a handle which would allow them to be conveniently carried about.

Empty tins of many kinds are at present practically worthless for re-use as open containing vessels they being easily distorted out of shape; and owing to the enormous number of such tins manufactured, especially in the United States of America, the economic waste is considerable. By the aid of my handle support such tins may be used (and will prove durable) as buckets or containing vessels, or when emptied may be safely returned for refilling with any desired material.

;Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows my appliance with the handle extended as used on a kerosene tin. Fig. 2 shows my appliance on a cylindrical can, the handle extended and canted partly to one side to show one of its motions. Fig. 3 shows the appliance on a can as in Fig. 1 but with the handle collapsed so as to leave no part projecting materially fromany part of the can. Fig. 4: shows the appliance with the handle doubled or folded over so as to be underneath to leave the can top free from ob struction. Generally the handle is much shorter than here shown in which case it would when doubledunder, be above the part It doubled to one side it could be made to lie close against the same whatever the length of the handle, by the use of the slots hereinafter described. Fig. 5 shows a vertical cross section through the top of the handle. Fig. 6 shows a modified handle top in vertical cross section and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of such top. Figs. 8 and 9 show respectively two forms of my appliance as seen when the parts are collapsed together to occupy a small space.

This handle-support is made of four specially shaped pieces of metal or other suitable material A, B, O, D, all of which meet and are connected together at two opposite points E, E, said points being at or aboutthe extremity of each of the pieces. The piece A is a support extendingpartly horizontally and partly vertically, so as to pass under and up the side of a kerosene or other tin or case as M or N. The pieces B and O are similar to each other and are arranged to extend each half way around the tin or case, so as jointly to form a rectangle, circle or other complete band transversely around the tin or case. The part D forms a movable handle when required, and (owing to the slots H of which there is one at each side) when not so required may be conveniently slipped out of the way as shown in Fig. t. The top of D I make convex in the inner side F as in Figs. 1, 3, 4E and 5, although it may be made plain as in Figs. 6 and 7 andif desired suitably strengthened by a fillet of wood as G. The convexity in D adds materially to its rigidity as a handle, enabling it to retain its shape under heavy strain. The rivets or pins at E E are passed sufficiently loosely through the parts A, B, O, and D, that the whole frame may when desired be folded up into a small space as in Figs. 8 and 9 and that the part D may be canted over to either side as an ordinary bucket handle is, or to be moved to and fro in the direction of the slot.

Owing to the size or heavy contents of some tins or cases they have to be made extra strong to support the strains they undergo in A can frame holder, consisting of the combination of a band, passing around the can in a direction parallel to the plane of the base, and fitting snugly thereon, and carrying pivot pins on opposite sides thereof, the bands being in halves which are hinged together to said pins, a single supporting strip A, passing from one pivot to the other down opposite sides of the can and centrally under the base thereof, and a handle having slotted ends, in which fit said pins and passing over the top of the can, the said band, strip and handle being loosely connected together by the pins.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THEODORE WM. HICKSON.

W itnesses:

GEO. G. Toms, E. F. NIcHoLLs. 

